As a network has been developed, various on-line game services have been provided. Further, improvement of performance of graphics techniques and game user terminal results in game programs with high specifications and also provides game contents which precisely describe a real world and a virtual world.
The on-line game has various genres. An on-line game which is representatively used by users includes a sport game. The sport game includes a video game and a computer game which is played using a user terminal by a single user, and an on-line sport game through which a user competes with other users or cooperatively plays together with other users. In such a sport game, the user manipulates a coach or a player to artificially-intelligently play the sport game in game contents or plays a game with another team which is played by the other players in accordance with a sport rule and plays the game in order to beat the other team.
In the meantime, in the on-line game, in order to objectively represent an ability or a capacity of a user which is increased as a player plays a game more frequently, a concept of a level is adopted. As the capacity is increased as the user plays a game more frequently, the level of the user is also increased so that many items which are provided as an award can be secured. Some of the items need to be purchased in an item shop on a screen on which the on-line game is executed or an item shop of a web site to access the on-line game, or other items may be purchased through an auction house of an on-line game from other players.
When a user is at a high level and has lots of items, the user has a strong capacity in a game space. As described above, the level and the item are concepts introduced to increase participation of a user and interest in the game, but a twisted phenomenon in which the user tends to play the game in order to secure items and increase the level has occurred in recent years.
However, when the user continuously plays the on-line game, much time and effort are required. Accordingly, a program which creates a virtual player that is programmed to perform a predetermined action in a specific on-line game even when the user does not directly play the game is obscurely spread. Such a program is called an “auto player” and generally called an “auto”. A user who uses the auto may continuously perform a desired action through the auto without directly playing the game, and thus easily increases the level and simultaneously secures many items as compared with a user who does not use the auto. Further, the user may participate in an item auction using the auto. There are some problems which may occur when the user participates in the item auction using the auto, as follows.
First, users who do not use the auto may have disadvantages. Generally, when the user participates in the auction without using the auto, it takes a lot of time to search and bid on a desired item in an auction house. However, when a specific user uses an auto for the auction house, the user rapidly searches and bids on an item to be bid instead of directly searching for the item. As a result, a chance of a user who does not use the auto to obtain the desired item in the auction house is considerably lowered and thus transaction of the item is depressed from a long-term viewpoint, which may adversely affect the popularity of the on-line game.
Further, the auto continuously consumes a network resource. This is because the auto does not feel fatigue like a person so that the auto repeatedly tries to search and bid on an item in the auction house, which means that the auto is connected to the auction house at all times. Accordingly, an on-line game manager needs to extend an accessible band width of the auction house and unnecessarily invests to increase a searching speed.
Therefore, a technology which detects an auto which automatically participates in the item auction of the on-line game is desperately demanded.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.